Human Traficking

EXISTING LAWS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: AN OVERVIEW

Name of the Author – Prayank Jain
Name of Co-authors – Rohan Khurana Akanksha Shahi
Designation –
Students
Name of the Institute –
Symbiosis Law School, Sector -62, Noida-201301 (Constituent of Symbiosis International University)

E-mail Addresses & Contact Numbers – Prayank Jain- [e-mail] , [phone]
Akanksha Shahi - [e-mail] , [phone] Rohan Khurana – [e-mail] , [phone]

Country – India

ABSTRACT:
This paper will explore the ways and how human trafficking is becoming a problem in India. Human trafficking is big business, with industry estimates running in the billions of dollars annually. Much of that profit accrues to traffickers, illegal profiteers, and organized crime groups. However, the private sector also reaps economic benefits, directly and indirectly, from human trafficking. Despite these economic realities, the dominant approach to combating human trafficking has been to rely almost exclusively on governments and social services organizations to do the job.
In this article we have pointed to some common pitfalls and particular challenges in research on human trafficking. We start out by defining the word “trafficking” which has constantly been a challenge to be understood and also “What are Human Rights?” Next, we present the types of human trafficking and there challenges as identified in populations and the changes in their behaviours, arguing that primary data collection in trafficking field should focus on former victims, and not current victims or persons at risk. Thereafter we discuss the laws made by the Indian governments so as to overcome human trafficking in the country. Then we discuss the steps taken by the government against the cases of human trafficking. Focus will also be on the challenges in identification of trafficking victims and when the victims themselves do not want to be identified with the trafficking label. We will also compare the Indian laws with the laws of those countries whose Human Trafficking laws are considered to be best amongst other countries and about their execution of the laws in the cases reported. Finally, we mention the methods to resolve the problems of human trafficking in India and conclude the topic by giving our views as well.

What is Trafficking?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines traffic as ‘trade, especially illegal (as in drugs). It has also been described as ‘the transportation of goods, the coming and going of people or goods by road, rail, air, sea, etc. The word trafficked or trafficking is described as ‘dealing in something, especially illegally (as in the case of trafficking narcotics)’.
The most comprehensive definition of trafficking is the one adopted by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime in 2000, known as the “UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,” 2000 under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). This Convention has been signed by the government of India.
Article 3
a) Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or of receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person’s, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;
b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph
c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, habrouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered ‘trafficking in persons’ even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in sub paragraph (a) of the article;
d) Child shall mean any person less than eighteen years of age.
Trafficking is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon and requires a multidisciplinary approach. Any analysis of the root causes of human trafficking must take into account factors that are specific to India, its socio-economic conditions and its poverty levels. Human trafficking is a violation of human rights and any strategy to eliminate trafficking should be framed within a human-rights perspective by placing the victim at the Centre. A focus that is primarily directed to the prosecution of traffickers has the potential to ignore or minimize the human rights of those who have been trafficked by failing to adequately protect the trafficked women. The key feature of the present research lies in its study not only of the affected women but also of the courts, police stations and complaints/FIRs regarding related crimes. For easy translation of the recommendations, the concerns have been concretized into formulating policies and programmes. No other report has so extensively in such a comprehensive manner made recommendations for protection, prevention and prosecution simultaneously and also suggested amendments in the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act. The present research study also focuses on the human rights concerns of workers engaged in the sex trade and the recommendations reflect their concerns and voices without taken a moral stand. Available literature on trafficking mainly consists of reports of studies, conferences and workshops conducted by international and domestic nongovernmental organizations Referred to by SAFMA interalia is the Trafficking in India Report- 2004 by Shakti Vahini; and A Report on trafficking in Women and Children 2002-2003 by NHRC; Also referred to are the International Labour Organization (ILO) Reports on The Link Between Migration and Trafficking and Child Labour and Trafficking; and the Trafficking in Persons Report (Released by the United States Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons June 14, 2004).

Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional issue. It is a crime that deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, increases global health risks, fuels growing networks of organized crime, and can sustain levels of poverty and impede development in certain areas.
The impacts of human trafficking are devastating. Victims may suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, and even death. But the devastation also extends beyond individual victims; human trafficking undermines the health, safety, and security of all nations it touches.

Human trafficking as defined by the UN is, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or service, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”
Elements Of Human Trafficking
On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements; * The Act (What is done)
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons * The Means (How it is done)
Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim * The Purpose (Why it is done)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation.

Human Trafficking Defined the TVPA defines “severe forms of trafficking” as:
a. sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
b. the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
A victim need not be physically transported from one location to another in order for the crime to fall within these definitions.

The Scope and Nature of Modern-Day Slavery
The common denominator of trafficking scenarios is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. Traffickers can subject victims to labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, or both. Trafficking for labor exploitation, the form of trafficking claiming the greatest number of victims includes traditional chattel slavery, forced labor, and debt bondage.
Trafficking for sexual exploitation typically includes abuse within the commercial sex industry. In other cases, individuals exploit victims in private homes, often demanding both sex and work. The use of force or coercion can be direct and violent or psychological.
A wide range of estimates exists on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery.

MAJOR Forms of Trafficking in Persons

Forced Labor:
The majority of human trafficking in the world takes the form of forced labor, according to the ILO’s estimate on forced labor. Also known as involuntary servitude, forced labor may result when unscrupulous employers take advantage of gaps in law enforcement to exploit vulnerable workers. These workers are made more vulnerable to forced labor practices because of high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, and cultural acceptance of the practice. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable, but individuals are also forced into labor in their own countries. Female victims of forced or bonded labor, especially women and girls in domestic servitude, are often sexually exploited as well.
Forced labor is a form of human trafficking that is often harder to identify and estimate than sex trafficking. It may not involve the same criminal networks profiting from transnational sex trafficking. Instead, it may involve individuals who subject workers to involuntary servitude, perhaps through forced or coerced household or factory work.

Bonded Labor:
One form of force or coercion is the use of a bond, or debt, to keep a person under Subjugation. This is referred to in law and Policy as “bonded labor” or “debt bondage.” U.S. law prohibits debt bondage, and the UN TIP Protocol includes it as a form of trafficking related exploitation. Workers around the world fall victim to debt bondage when traffickers or recruiters unlawfully exploit an initial debt the worker assumed as part of the terms of Employment.
Workers may also inherit debt in more traditional systems of bonded labor. Traditional Bonded labor in South Asia, for example, enslaves huge numbers of people from Generation to generation. A January 2009 report by Anti-Slavery International, a London-based NGO, concluded that this form of forced labor, traditionally more prevalent in villages, is expanding into urban areas of the region, rather than diminishing on an aggregate level, as the result of development and modernization.

Debt Bondage among Migrant Laborers:
The vulnerability of migrant laborers to trafficking schemes is especially disturbing because the population is sizeable in some regions. There are three potential contributing factors: (1) abuse of contracts; (2) inadequate local laws governing the recruitment and employment of migrant laborers; and (3) intentional imposition of exploitative and often illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country.
Abuses of contracts and hazardous conditions of employment do not in themselves constitute involuntary servitude. But the use or threat of physical force or restraint to keep a person working may convert a situation into one of forced labor. Costs imposed on laborers for the “privilege” of working abroad can make laborers vulnerable to debt bondage. While the costs alone do not constitute debt bondage, when they become excessive and involve exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination country, they can lead to involuntary servitude.

Involuntary Domestic Servitude:
A unique form of forced labor is that of involuntary domestic workers, whose work place is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. Such an environment is conducive to exploitation since authorities cannot inspect private property as easily as they can inspect formal workplaces. In some countries, large numbers of local children, often from less developed rural areas of the country, labor in urban households as domestic servants. Some of them may be vulnerable to conditions of involuntary servitude.
Foreign migrants, usually women, are recruited from less developed countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America to work as domestic servants and caretakers in more developed locations like the Gulf States, the Levant, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe, and the United States. But many of these places do not provide domestic servants the same legal protections that they provide for foreign workers in other sectors.
Without protections, foreign domestic workers may have fewer options for seeking help when faced with their employer’s threat of or use of force. If they are confined to a home, either through physical restraint or through the confiscation of identity and travel documents, they may find it very difficult to reach out to NGOs or public authorities for assistance due to lack of awareness and fear of their employers. This high degree of vulnerability calls for a vigorous law enforcement and victim protection response when domestic servants are found in conditions of involuntary servitude in a home. Those domestic servants who choose to escape from abusive employers are sometimes termed “runaways” and seen as criminals, though they should be considered as possible victims of trafficking.

Forced Child Labor:
Most international organizations and national laws recognize that children may legally engage in light work. There is a growing consensus, however, that the worst forms of child labor should be eradicated. The sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in bonded and forced labor are among the worst forms of child labor. Any child, who is subject to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, is a victim of human trafficking regardless of the location of that exploitation. Indicators of possible forced labor of a child include situations in which the child appears to be in the custody of a non-family member who has the child perform work that financially benefits someone outside the child’s family and does not offer the child the option of leaving.

Child Soldiers:
Child soldiering is a unique and severe manifestation of trafficking in persons that involves the unlawful recruitment of children— often through force, fraud, or coercion—for labor or sexual exploitation in conflict areas.
Perpetrators may be government forces, paramilitary organizations, or rebel groups.
While the majority of child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18, some of whom may have been unlawfully recruited and used in hostilities, others are as young as 7 or 8, which is unlawful under international law. Although it is impossible to accurately calculate the number of children involved in armed forces and groups, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers estimates that there are many tens of thousands of children exploited in conflict. Child soldiers exist in all regions of the world. According to the UN, 57 armed groups and forces were using children in 2007, up from 40 in 2006.
Many children are abducted to be used as combatants. Others are made unlawfully to work as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Young girls are forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Both male and female child soldiers are often sexually abused and are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Some children have been forced to commit atrocities against their families and communities. Child soldiers are often killed or wounded, and survivors suffer multiple traumas and psychological scarring. Their personal development is irreparably damaged, and their home communities often reject them when they return. Child soldiering is a global phenomenon.
The problem is most critical in Africa and Asia, but armed groups in conflict areas elsewhere also use children unlawfully. All nations must work together with international organizations and NGOs to take urgent action to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate unlawful child soldiers.

Sex Trafficking:
Sex trafficking comprises a significant portion of overall human trafficking. When a person is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution, or maintained in prostitution through coercion, that person is a victim of trafficking. All of those involved in recruiting, transporting, harboring, receiving, or obtaining the person for that purpose have committed a trafficking crime. Sex trafficking can also occur alongside debt bondage, as women and girls are forced to continue in prostitution through the use of unlawful “debt” purportedly incurred through their transportation or recruitment—or their crude “sale”—which exploiters insist they must pay off before they can be free.

THE THREE P’S: PROSECUTION, PROTECTION, PREVENTION

Punishing Trafficking Offenders:
The minimum standards in the TVPA call on foreign governments to prohibit all forms of trafficking, to prescribe penalties that are sufficiently stringent to deter the crime and that adequately reflect the heinous nature of the crime, and to vigorously punish offenders convicted of these crimes.

Protecting Victims Adequately:
Every country narrative of the TIP Report specifically addresses these elements. In addition, the Department of State has decided to implement this criterion with the following guidelines:
In evaluating whether a country fully satisfies this part of the minimum standards on victim protection, the Department of State considers the following to be critical factors:
1) Proactive identification: Victims should not be expected to identify themselves. They typically are afraid of coming forward and fear authorities will consider them criminals, irregular migrants, or disposable people. Formal screening procedures should go beyond checking a person’s papers. Some form of systematic procedure should be in place to guide law enforcement and other governmental or government-supported front-line responders in the process of victim identification.
2) Shelter and temporary care: A government should ensure that victims have access to primary health care, counseling, and shelter. Such provisions should allow victims to recount their trafficking experiences to trained social counselors and law enforcement at a pace with minimal pressure. Shelter and assistance can be provided in cooperation with NGOs. Part of the host government’s responsibility includes funding and referral to any NGOs that provide shelter and assistance. To the best extent possible, trafficking victims should not be held in immigration detention centers or other detention facilities.

Prevention: Spotlight on Addressing Demand:
Human trafficking is a dehumanizing crime that reduces people to commodities. On the supply side, criminal networks, corruption, lack of education, poverty, and misinformation about employment opportunities and the degrading nature of the promised work make people vulnerable to the lures of trafficking. This is true of both sex trafficking and forced labor. The movement to end human trafficking includes significant efforts to address these factors that “push” victims into being trafficked, but it also recognizes a “pull” factor as part of the cause. A voracious demand fuels the dark trade in human beings.
Unscrupulous employers create demand for forced labor when they seek to increase profits at the expense of vulnerable workers through force, fraud, or coercion. One key to addressing such demand is raising awareness about the existence of forced labor in the production of goods. Many consumers and businesses would be troubled to know that their purchases— clothes, jewelry, and even food—are produced by individuals, including children, who are forced into slave-like conditions.
In the global marketplace for goods, ensuring that complex supply chains are untainted by forced labor is a challenge for both businesses and consumers. But denying access to foreign markets for products made with forced labor will reduce the incentive to exploit forced labor and encourage ethical business behavior.
Increased information on export products and production chains—drawn from a variety of sources, including other governments—makes such efforts more effective.
Any successful effort to combat human trafficking must confront not only the supply of trafficked humans, but also the demand for forced labor and commercial sex that fuels it. Partnerships between governments and private businesses that purchase products made with low-skilled labor are one commendable way to address potential demand for forced labor. Efforts by some governments to arrest, prosecute, and punish adults who seek to exploit children in the commercial sexual trade is one form of addressing demand for commercial sex acts.

Indian Laws

The main concern of the National Human Rights Commission in commissioning this study was to check the disturbing trend in the reported alarming rise in trafficking. Press, police and NGO reports on trafficking had given a clear and unequivocal indication that buying and selling of women and children for sexual and non-sexual purposes was an expanding activity and involved gross violation of human rights. What was even more worrisome was the indication that India was fast becoming a source, transit point as well as a destination area for traffickers. A substantial body of newspaper reporting as well as reports of voluntary agencies suggested that apart from Nepal, Bangladesh and the poverty-stricken districts within India, trafficking from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries was also on the increase. This was a significant pointer towards the complex, organised nature of the crime. The ITPA and related laws envisage sexual exploitation of the trafficked person. The process of exploitation may be manifest, as in a brothel, or latent, as in certain massage parlours, dance bars, etc., where it takes place under the facade of a legitimate commercial activity. The Constitution of India which is the highest law of the land and from which all laws emanate, guarantees equality as a fundamental right and prohibits traffic in human beings.

Constitution:
Article 14 provides equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, or of any of them.
Article 15(3) provides for positive discrimination in favour of women and children. It states that, “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.”
Article 16 (1) provides equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.
Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings and forced labour.
Article 23(1) specifically prohibits traffic in human beings, begar and other forms of forced labour.
Article 38, enjoins the State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people.
Article 39 enumerates certain principles of policy to be followed by the State. Among them being right to adequate means of livelihood for men and women equally and equal pay for equal work.
Article 39 (f) provides that the children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood should be protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
Article 46 directs the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections (in which women are included) and that it shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

IMMORAL TRAFFIC (PREVENTION) ACT, 1986
According to Articles 1 & 2 of the Convention countries are bound to punish persons who, to gratify the passions of another procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person, even if it is with the consent of that person. * Keeping or managing (or assisting in keeping or managing) a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel (including vehicles) – S. 3 ITPA. * Living on earnings of prostitution (even partly) – S.4 ITPA. * Procuring, inducing, trafficking or taking persons for the sake of prostitution (S. 5 ITPA). Even attempt to procure or take would constitute the offence. * Detaining a person in any premises (brothel or any other) where prostitution is carried out - S. 6 ITPA. * Anybody who carries on prostitution or anybody with whom such prostitution is carried on, in the vicinity of public places (which includes hotel, vehicles, etc.) S. 7 ITPA. * Seducing or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution in any public place or within sight of a public place - S. 8 ITPA. * Seduction of a person in custody (which includes causing or assisting seduction for prostitution of a person in custody) – S. 9 ITPA.

The objective of the ITPA is to * Punish immoral trafficking. * Punish traffickers. * Punish persons living off the earnings of a woman. * Provide welfare measures directed towards rehabilitation of sex workers.

INDIAN PENAL CODE
In the existing scenario, trafficking is usually confused with prostitution and therefore, there is no proper understanding of the seriousness of trafficking. It would be appropriate here to list out the wrongs, violations, harms and crimes that are committed by various persons on a trafficked victim. These violations can be realized only during a careful interview of a trafficked person. Once the victim is allowed, facilitated and promoted to speak, the unheard story will reveal a long list of violating acts perpetrated on her. * Displaced from her community, which tantamount to kidnapping/ abduction (Sections 361, 362, 365, 366 IPC may apply). * Procured illegally (S.366 A IPC). * Sold by somebody (S.372 IPC). * Bought by somebody (S.373 IPC). * Imported from a foreign country (if she hails from a foreign country, or even from J & K State, and is under 21 years of age – S.366 B IPC). * Wrongfully restrained (S.339 IPC). * Wrongfully confined (S 340 IPC). * Physically tortured/injured (S.327, 329 IPC). * Subjected to criminal force (S. 350 IPC). * Mentally tortured/harassed/assaulted (S. 351 IPC). * Criminally intimidated (S.506 IPC). * Outraged of her modesty (S 354 IPC). * Raped/gang raped/repeatedly raped (S 375 IPC). * Subjected to perverse sexual exploitation (‘unnatural offences’) (S.377 IPC). * Defamed (S 499 IPC). * Subjected to unlawful compulsory labour (S.374 IPC). * Victim of criminal conspiracy (S 120 B IPC).
Case Laws: * To constitute a brothel a place must have been used for purposes of prostitution. When the prosecution proved the presence of only one girl in the premises and a single instance of prostitution, the premises cannot be held ”used for brothel” in the absence of any proof from the surrounding circumstances (In Re Dhanalakshmi, 1974 CriLJ 61 MAD).

* Solitary instance of prostitution in a place does not make a place a “brothel” (Sushila v. State of Tamil Nadu, CriLJ 1982 MAD 702). Thus in case a single woman uses the premises she is committing no offence but if for the mutual gain of two prostitutes the same premises is used it constitutes a “brothel”. The last part of the definition is significant.

* It implies that where a single woman practices prostitution for her own livelihood, without another prostitute, or some other person being involved in the maintenance of such premises, her residence will not amount to a “brothel” (In Re Ratnamala, AIR 1962 MAD 31).

* In Vishal Jeet vs. Union of India and others (1990, 3 SCC 318) there was a PIL against forced prostitution of girls, devadasis and jogins, and for their rehabilitation. The Supreme Court held that in spite of stringent and rehabilitative provisions under the various acts, results were not as desired and, therefore, called for evaluation of the measures by the central and state governments to ensure their implementation. The court called for severe and speedy legal action against exploiters such as pimps, brokers and brothel owners. Several directives were issued by the court, which, inter alia, included setting up of a separate Zonal Advisory Committee, providing rehabilitative homes, effectively dealing with the devadasi system, jogin tradition etc.

U.S. Laws
Human trafficking has occurred in the United States for many years. The initial form was in the form of the slave trade. After the official abolition of slavery in 1863, industrialization, expansion into a global economy, and cultural changes have all contributed to the creation of a new form of slavery known as trafficking.
The types of human trafficking that occur are forced labor, debt bondage, document servitude, and sex trafficking. These groups of trafficked people fund the formal economy and the illegal economy. Because they lack the protection of the labor standards that is given to employees of the formal economy, these groups are often at high risk of violence, severe exploitation, limited mobility, and deprivation of human rights. While the U.S. has created anti-trafficking laws in attempt to eliminate trafficking and protect its victims, the opposing views of the definition of trafficking limit the application and enforcement of these laws. In addition, a lack of cohesive national departments to battle trafficking as well as a lack of cohesive data about those who are trafficked have also made it difficult to assess and control human trafficking. Nationwide data collection services, however, are underway with the first national data collection to begin in early 2013 and to be by the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Centre.

POLICY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The federal government has taken a firm stance against human trafficking both within its borders and beyond. Domestically, human trafficking is a federal crime under Title 18 of the United States Code. Section 1584 makes it a crime to force a person to work against her or his will, whether the compulsion is effected by use of force, threat of force, threat of legal coercion, or "a climate of fear" (an environment wherein individuals believe they may be harmed by leaving or refusing to work); Section 1581 similarly makes it illegal to force a person to work through "debt servitude." Human trafficking as it relates to involuntary servitude and slavery is prohibited by the 13th Amendment. Federal laws on human trafficking are enforced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal agencies, to include Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as well as the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section.

VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING AND VIOLENCE PROTECTION ACT
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 allowed for greater statutory maximum sentences for traffickers, provided resources for protection of and assistance for victims of trafficking, and created avenues for interagency cooperation. It also allows many trafficking victims to remain in the U.S. and apply for permanent residency under a T-1 Visa. Previously, trafficked individuals who were often in the country illegally were treated as criminals. According to the section on Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons, the definition extends to include any "commercial sex act ... in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age." This means that any minor engaged in prostitution is a victim of human trafficking, regardless of citizenship or whether or not movement has taken place. The law defines trafficking as “the prohibition against any individual who provides or obtains labor or services for peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor.” The law distinguishes trafficking, where victims are coerced into entering the U.S., from smuggling, where migrants enter the country without authorization. The act also attempted to encourage efforts to prevent human trafficking internationally, by creating annual country reports on trafficking and tying financial non-humanitarian assistance to foreign countries to real efforts in addressing human trafficking. The benefits of the law, however, are dependent on the survivor’s cooperation with prosecuting the perpetrators. This can be complicated if the victim fears retribution from their trafficker or has a fear of authority that remains from their country of origin.
The original TVPA of 2000 has been reauthorized three times, the most recent being the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. These reauthorizations have clarified definitions of trafficking and forced labor in order both to aid in prosecution of traffickers and to aid the victims of trafficking. The reauthorization versions have also required the federal government to terminate all contracts with overseas contractors involved in human trafficking or forced labor. Extraterritoriality jurisdiction was also extended to cover all U.S. nationals and permanent residents who are living overseas.
In "October 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (Public Law 106-386) was enacted. Prior to that, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers". In 2003, the Bush Administration authorized more than $200 million to combat human trafficking through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA). TVPRA renews the U.S. government 's commitment to identify and assist victims exploited through labor and sex trafficking in the U.S. The U.S. has also set up programs to help those who have been victims. The government can help victims, once identified, by stabilizing their immigrant status. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) enables victims who are non-U.S. citizens to receive federally funded benefits and services to the same extent as a refugee; as well, U.S. citizens who are victims are eligible for many benefits.

Conclusion: and how to solve problems of human trafficking
Human trafficking is world 's third largest illegal activity after smuggling of drugs and weapons, multi - billion dollar criminal enterprise targeting vulnerable people for labour and sexual exploitation, destroying lives and tearing families apart. The main targets are the people who lack job opportunities, who have been victim to regional imbalances or social discrimination, mentally disturbed, or the people who have growing deprivation and are from the marginalized communities or people caught in debt bondages or because their parents think that their children are burden and sell them off – in simple words- the poor, helpless people are the ones who are exploited the most.
It is a really sad situation which India is facing. Despite 60 years of independence, the benefits of economic development have not trickled down to the marginalised sections of the society and millions of people still live below the poverty line. The poverty and hunger makes children and women belonging to the poor sections of the society highly vulnerable to human trafficking. In almost every city there are certain parts filled with brothels. Human trafficking includes sexual exploitation, labour trafficking, etc. Nowadays even cross-border human trafficking is prevalent. India has a huge population and because of that and our dwindling economy many people live below the poverty line. The smugglers and traffickers promise them a better life- a ray of hope, jobs as domestic servants, in the film world or in factories. They can offer them money, pleasure trip invitations or false promises of marriage.
Human trafficking targets vulnerable people, including children, primarily for labour and sexual exploitation. A gross violation of basic human rights and laws, it destroys lives and tears families apart. Human trafficking lowers the value of human life; it brutalizes the society and violates our belief in the human capacity for a change. So let’s work for a better future for our country and CHANGE- something that India only talks about, let’s turn it into reality.

There is a need to have greater co-ordination between different states in India as trafficking has a long trail from the source point to the destination with several transit points in between. Investigation in the cases involving human trafficking should be carried out with the aim to destroy this long trail. Increased co-ordination between government departments like police, public welfare, health, women and child is required to ensure an effective response. Government and NGOs should work together to ensure post-rescue rehabilitation of the victims in terms of providing them healthcare, education, other employment opportunities and give them hope and encourage them to live a life of dignity where they are not alone and helpless. We can take up community surveillances which will help check ongoing trafficking activities. Establishing women’s groups which will help take care of the women in the underprivileged societies since women and girls are the most affected victims. We as the youth can take up initiatives to spread awareness programs in villages, local schools, among kids of the poor society and children suffering from parents and poor conditions where help can be provided.

References and citations * Trafficking women and children for sexual exploitation, Handbook for law enforcement agencies in India [revised EDITION 2007] by Dr. P. M. Nair

* Research Study on Human Right Violation of Victims of Trafficking Conducted by Social Action Forum for Manvaadhikar

* NHRC - UNIFEM - ISS Project, A report on trafficking in Women and Children in India, 2002-2003 by Sankar Sen Volume I

* http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123360.pdf

* http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/01/human-trafficking-in-india/

References: and citations * Trafficking women and children for sexual exploitation, Handbook for law enforcement agencies in India [revised EDITION 2007] by Dr. P. M. Nair * Research Study on Human Right Violation of Victims of Trafficking Conducted by Social Action Forum for Manvaadhikar * NHRC - UNIFEM - ISS Project, A report on trafficking in Women and Children in India, 2002-2003 by Sankar Sen Volume I * http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123360.pdf * http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/01/human-trafficking-in-india/